Bullet Wound
by The Illusionist's Wings04
Summary: Of course, Max Ride is always getting in trouble. Will her name twin, max, get her out of it?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or Dark Angel.**

** Sorry if this isn't that good. The ending's definitely rushed, so please review! That last comment made no sense…**

Rain thundered down from heavens as Maximum Ride stumbled through the broken alleyways. Few people gave her a second glance, but the ones who dared froze at the predatorily glare she shot them with chocolate brown eyes. Fortunately, it was enough to keep troublemakers away, because beneath the teen's water sodden coat blood blossomed through her long white sleeve shirt. Max couldn't raise her arm with wincing in pain, much less fight a group of stupid boys looking for money on the seemingly defenseless girl.

Max was already getting dizzy from blood loss, and her head was pounding from the lucky punches one of the Erasers landed on her. She was better at hand to hand combat, therefore when the Erasers brought a gun to a street fight, it was frickin' cheating. Now, she wasn't going to meet up with the Flock back at the discarded house they had taken refuge in. _Fang's going to freak,_ Max thought to herself weakly. She had come out to check out the rumors about escaped mutants. Instead, she had run into Erasers, but judging by the eyewitness accounts they weren't the ones she was trying to find. God, she was an idiot. Probably some drunken idiot saw a lizard and screamed.

Whatever circumstances brought her here, the rain was pounding down, and Max was starting to feel faint. A faint neon sign glowed through the misty weather, and Max immediately felt the effects of skipping breakfast; Nudge had warned, don't miss the most important meal of the day. She limped towards the door and walked into the crowed room of Crash. Her nose wrinkled up at the smell of alcohol. Sure, she was no stranger to liquor, but even by 19 Iggy's crazy obsession with crashing parties hadn't gotten her used to the bitter taste.

Anywhere would have been better; that, Max had already decided. The loud noise made her head thump even worse, and the jostling of the crowds made the wound in her stomach hurt like hell. Taking a deep breath, she made her way towards one of the seats at the bar. Lugging herself onto the hard wooden seat, Max hissed through her teeth as a sharper pain lanced through her abdomen. Damn Erasers…

As Max tried to hold in a shriek of pain, the shots littering the table started to seem _real _appealing. Giving into the want, she waved the bartender. "Give me something strong," she told him woozily. Waiting for the drink, she unbuttoned her coat, making sure to keep it slightly closed to hide the red stain that was still growing larger. Taking a rubberband from her pocket, Max put her tangled hair back in a high ponytail and tried to settle in to the atmosphere. "Just another girl," Max muttered to herself. Glancing around the room, Max tried to take the confident stature that some of the girls had. Managing to take attention off herself was a God given talent as far as Max was concerned, and she had it.

When she finally took a sip of the liquor, she almost managed to choke before forcing down the fiery liquid. Waiting for a moment before taking another sip, she sat staring down at the grainy wood trying to work out what she was going to do before she felt a presence sit down next to her.

"You look lonely over here, sweetie," a deep voice sounded beside her on the next stool. "Get stood up? We boys can be such jerks, can't we?"

Max raised her head to glare at the not so innocent bystander. The man beside her gave an impish grin, his tousled blonde hair still damp from the rain outside. Ignoring him, Max took a sip of the drink in front of her.

"Want some company?" the man tried again, reaching out to put his hand on her shoulders. Lashing backwards, Max snarled at him. "_Stay the hell away from me_," Max growled, glaring testily at him. The sudden movement, however, brought on a fresh wave of dizziness, and Max felt the blackness creeping at the corners of her vision.

"Go away, Alec," another voice ordered. A girl, looking to be only a few years older than Max, set down the empty cup of beer between the Max and the man, Alec. Her dark brown hair whipped around her face, and her lean frame seemed to attract the male attention. "Sorry about this jerk," the woman said. "Just ignore him."

I gave her a slight smile. "That's what I've been trying to do."

The girl gave Max a look of appreciation. "So what's your name?" she asked Max.

"Max. Maximum Ride."

Alec's look gave away a bit of surprise. "It's too bad you got here too late," he joked, looking all too serious for Max's liking. "Maxie here already met her clone a couple weeks ago."

Max was starting to feel uncomfortable. Something wasn't right. "What do you mean, clone?"

The other Max gave Alec a near identical glare to Alec. "I have a twin sister," she lied easily. Max had gotten used to weeding out the lies from people, but decided to leave it alone. Whatever it was, Max was ok with leaving alone.

"Are you ok?" the other Max asked suddenly; her worried eyes looked over Max's pale, drawn face. "You don't look so good. What did you give her, Alec," she sneered accusatorially at Alec. Alec put his hands up in mock defense. "What makes you think I did something?"

While the two argued, Max was starting to feel weaker by the second. She tried grabbing the drink, but her fingers seemed to pass through the glass. Her temples were pounding mercilessly, and the edges of her vision were darkening. The glass of beer hit the floor as Max plummeted to the floor, unconscious.

O-o-O-H-O-o-O

Hangovers were horrible, but God help anyone who got in Max's way as she woke. Her eyelids fluttering open, she immediately reached towards her wound, but to her surprise found a big gauzy wrap around her abdomen. Wincing, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and surveyed the area, going down the regular checklist: people; no: unfamiliar building; check: surgical equipment; thank goodness, no. In fact, she was quite comfortable lying on a couch with a plush pillow behind her head and a fuzzy blanket lying on top of her. The room wasn't hospital white, just dark earthy tones with a couple chairs, a coffee table, and huge windows. _Windows._ Max wasn't sure she could fly right now, but it would have to happen; this was a nice break and all, but she had to get back. Soon, Fang would call her…

Now she felt like an idiot. Mom had given her and the flock cell phones for emergencies, and if this wasn't an emergency she didn't know what was. Reaching towards her pocket, she felt around for the metal edges, but it was empty. Darn, her captors probably took it.

Anyway, who were her captors? Erasers, whitecoats, nice people living down the street? Doubt it, judging by the looks of this place. Only someone who was extremely lucky or in some deep business with the government could afford a place like this; neither Max wanted anything to do with, all for a good reasons. One was the government were the ones who gave her these feather appendages on her back. More forced than gave, of course, being she hadn't even been born before lovely birdie DNA was added to her DNA cocktail.

Listening for a moment, she caught faint voices a couple rooms over. They were too faint to completely understand, but she caught enough: wings, mutant, escaped, hunted, _found._ Just like before, these people were going to sell her to the highest bidder. Already, a plan was forming. First try to go out the window; if that didn't work, she was sunk, so all she could hope for is that Fang would be smart enough to keep low, not look for her, and watch out for the kids. And that was one of the reason she loved him: he was perfectly capable and smart enough to do all of the above.

The voices were getting quieter every minute, and she knew this was her chance; slowly getting up on her feet, she started walking towards the windows. Her body could feel the anticipation of flight; her wings, 14 feet of pure white and brown unearthly awesomeness, were inching out of her jacket. Taking a step forward, she had to bang into the glass table and it shivered from the pressure. She froze; the voices froze, too.

Last chance.

She bolted towards freedom, hearing the fast approaching footsteps behind her. It was too late, though. A pair of arms grabbed, and they were _strong_. Her elbows lashing blindly out should have broken a rib on any normal being, but she didn't hear a crack. Then the arms got a little too close to bullet hole, and she kicked hard backwards. Finally, her foot made harsh contact with the offender's leg and they stumbled back. Taking advantage of the weakness in her cage, she leaped towards latch. She could have made it, too, until she heard a sharp cry from behind.

"Stop! We won't hurt you."

Yeah, she felt so stupid later on, but halted instantaneously, recognizing the voice. The arms grabbed her again, but this time she let herself go limp. The body turned around quickly, letting her face her captors.

"Let her go, Alec," Max said from across the room as she closed the distance between them. Behind her stood a man with brown hair and glasses.

"What if she tries to escape," Alec whined, still holding on tight. By now it was getting beyond Maximum's patience. She was about to beat the crap out of Alec, bullet wound or not, when the other Max's reply surprised her.

"If she runs, she runs," Max spat at him. "Now let go of her before you hurt her anymore."

Still grumbling underneath his breath, he let go of Max, who jumped towards the window. She grabbed the latch, then paused and turned around. "Who are you?" Max asked cynically, ready to spring at any moment.

"We were just about to ask you the same thing," the man replied, giving her a thoughtful look. She snorted, but allowed herself to relax a bit. Straightening up, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Who wants to know?"

"Obviously he does!" Alec told her harshly, rolling his eyes at the girl. The other Max stared icily and spun to the man expectantly. "I'm Logan," he told her, waving his hand towards his companions. "You know them, correct?"

Max only nodded, and then lightly touched her side. The other Max glanced at the gesture. "How did you stay conscious for so long? The blood loss should have made you pass out." she demanded. She took a step forward, Maximum took a step back.

Max was absolutely amazed. They had taken her to their hideout and treated the wound, but still hadn't noticed? Max couldn't help laughing at the idea, and she smiled at the girl. "You don't know?" she questioned, chuckling. "And I thought you whitecoats were smarter than that. What, no one briefed you on me? Sad."

They all shot her looks of confusion; even Alec, who looked thoroughly annoyed at the turn of events. "Who exactly do you think we are," Logan inquired, leaving Max uncomfortable under his gaze.

"The scientists," she said, getting irritated. "Who else would you be? Heroes come to save the day?"

"Told you she was from Manticore." The other Max smirked at Alec as if she had won some sort of bet. He grudgingly nodded his head in agreement.

"Manticore?" God, they really _were _idiots. "You mean Itex, right? What, is Manticore some new name to make you sound better? 'Cause nothing can you help you out in that area."

"Itex?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Logan groaned. This was obviously not what they planned, Max noticed. Probably some quick getaway, and instead they got a fight. "You know," Maximum told them airily, "it would have probably been better to sell me off when I was unconscious. Much easier, as you have learned."

"Sell you?" Alec chuckled. "What's so special about you? Of course, I do need the money…"

Max skipped back a step. "You touch me," she growled, "you die. End of story. And besides, if you really want to know-." Letting out a deep breath, she tried loosening her muscles; not missing a beat, her wings sprung out from her back. They filled nearly hit the walls as her wings spread the whole length. Max listened pleasantly to the gasps that came from the Alec, Logan, and Max. "This is a result of that 2% bird you put in me. Don't any of you remember?"

"Max, we aren't who you think we are. I'm like you," the other Max pleaded. She could see an almost sadistic glint in the girl's eyes; she knew where it came from, too. Training, white rooms, shivering children, sharp instruments…

"Yeah, right, like you people haven't lied before."

"No, Max. I'm serious." The other Max turned around and raised her hair to reveal a barcode stamped on the back of her neck. Max sharply intake, struggling to keep her face blank. God, poor girl. Did she even realize what it meant, those numbers on the back branded on her? And she had been telling the truth.

"When's the date," Maximum whispered softly, her eyes still strained on Max's neck as she let her hair fall on the nape of her neck

"Date?"

Max whimpered inside. She never liked these situations; when they found one of the good guys with those marks plastered on them like so psychotic temporary tattoo. All she could think about was her seven year old brother's face: Ari's wide brown eyes, still futily carrying the innocence every child should hold dear. The numbers that brought death so sudden, so painless, as he protected his sister. She brought her wings in. "Your expiration date. The preassigned retirement, as I'm sure they call it."

"Expiration date?" Logan asked quickly. "Preassigned retirement? What's she talking about, Max?" Max was speechless, though.

Maximum jumped as she felt a hand brush the back of her neck, and she swung around with her hands up. Alec, however, had already gotten the answer he needed. "She doesn't have the barcode."

"Yeah, thank God I don't," Maximum snarled. He had said it like it was normal, like we should all have them. She hated people like him: cocky enough to think they could outrun death. "Like I would want to leave the flock alone."

"Wait-."

"Alec, do yourself a favor, and _shut up_," Max nearly screamed from the front of the room. "Where do you say you were from? Itex? Isn't that some huge universal company?"

"I got it," Logan finally spoke up. "It all makes sense. Manticore must have had a partner in business. Doesn't make much sense that Manticore would have a secret partnership with another company in genetic experiments, given their attitude about wiping out the mutants. But it's the only thing I can come up with."

"So what you're saying, " Maximum concluded, "is that there are two evil laboratories? Wonderful…"

"What I don't get is why you freaked about the barcode," Alec voiced.

Maximum froze, then glared at him frostily. "It appears on mutants when they're going to die," she muttered. "Don't mention it around me, or I sware to God you'll never wake up alive." Alec shot her a disbelieving look as if he couldn't believe such a thing, but ignored.

There was an awkward silence. "So what next?" Logan finally asked.

"There is no what next," Maximum answered turning back towards the window. "I'm leaving. I've got to get back to someone."

Max didn't even seem to notice the last sentence. Her eyes creased with worry; if Maximum had ever seen herself with the Flock, she would have recognized the look. "You can't leave now. You're still hurt-."

"I'm going now." Maximum popped the latch on the window and let the screen swing open. She was about to jump out when she saw everyone watching her. "Look, it's nothing personal," Maximum told them sincerely. "People are counting on me, and quite frankly I don't trust any of you."

"At least take this." Logan handed her a number. "You can reach us with that." Maximum gave a quirk of the head, and raised a leg over the window ledge. Giving a wave in farewell, she brought the other leg over. The two girls eyes met for the last time, and a silent agreement passed between the two. Maximum gave an honest grin and suddenly her face was gone. The group rushed to the window, but the woman had already disappeared.


End file.
